Global ETF News Older than One Year
IMF-Islamic Finance: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Options
April 6, 2015--Summary: The SDN discusses the main policy issues and challenges in building an inclusive and safe Islamic finance industry, with emphasis on Islamic banking and Sukuk markets.
To this end, it discuses why Islamic finance matters, taking into account its recent and prospective growth; and, its potential contributions in terms of financial inclusion, support for small-and medium-sized enterprises and investment in public infrastructure and, in principle, reduced systemic risk. It then covers a range of regulatory and other challenges, and offers policy advice, to address factors that hamper the development of the industry and, more generally, the delivery of its potential benefits. The paper covers regulatory and supervisory issues, safety nets and resolution frameworks, access to finance, Sukuk markets, and macroeconomic policies.
Source: IMF
Record profits for listed fund managers
April 5, 2015--Listed fund managers racked up record profits of $40bn last year as operating margins hit a seven-year high of 33 per cent.
According to global analysis by Casey, Quirk & Associates, an industry consultant, average profit margins are now just one percentage point below their 2007 pre-crisis peak of 34 per cent, having hit a low of 26 per cent in 2009.
Source: FT.com
Chinese asset managers arrive in London
April 5, 2015--Two Chinese asset management companies have consolidated their presence in London, ending months of speculation over whether China's fund houses would enter the UK market.
Nord Engine Asset Management, a subsidiary of Chinese private equity firm Nord Engine Group, which has RMB17bn ($3bn) of assets under management, opened its first UK office in the City of London last month.
Source: FT.com
Mutual funds deny systemic risk in developing markets
April 5, 2015--Mutual fund investors own only a small slice of emerging market assets and are unlikely to pose a systemic risk to the developing world,
a leading trade body has argued.
Source: FT.com
Bond funds post $102 billion inflows in first quarter, highest demand since 2001
April 3, 2015--Investors worldwide poured $8.5 billion into fixed-income funds in the week ended April 1, marking the first three months of this year as the biggest first quarter for fixed-income inflows since 2001, data from a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report showed on Friday.
The first quarter posted net cash inflows of $102 billion, according to the BofA report, which also cited data from fund-tracker EPFR Global. Investment-grade bond funds saw the majority of the net inflows in the latest week with $5.3 billion.
Source: Reuters
DECPG Global Weekly-April 3, 2015
March 3, 2015--Taking Stock
Improvement in U.S. labor market slowed in March. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 126,000 jobs in
March, well below the expected 245,000 and down from 264,000 in February and from an average of 324,000 in the final
three months of 2014.
Earlier, data showed that jobless claims in U.S. fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 268,000 in the week ended March 28 (Figure 1), the lowest weekly level since the period ended January 24 and the second-lowest in at least a year. The four-week moving average of claims, which smoothes volatility, dropped by 14,750 to 285,550.
ECB announced plans to make QE bonds available for lending. The European Central Bank announced plans on Thursday to make government bonds bought under its quantitative easing program available for lending. As part of a plan to keep its debt-purchase program from distorting bond markets, the ECB introduced a 'securities lending' framework that includes a fixed borrowing term of one week with an option to roll over any loan three times, and set limits on the amount of bonds that can be borrowed.
Source: World Bank
IMF Working paper-Investment in Emerging Markets We Are Not in Kansas Anymore...Or Are We?
April 3, 2015--Summary: We document that (i) although private investment growth in emerging markets has decelerated in recent years, it came down from cyclical highs and remains close to pre-crisis trends; and (ii) investment-to-output ratios generally remain close to or above historical averages.
We show that investment is positively related to expect future profitability, cash flows and debt flows, and negatively associated with leverage. Critically, it is also positively related to (country-specific) commodity export prices and capital inflows. Lower commodity export prices and expected profitability, a moderation in capital inflows, and increased leverage account for the bulk of the recent investment deceleration.
Source: IMF
World Gold Council considers launch of new London exchange
April 2, 2015--The gold industry's leading trade body and half a dozen banks have agreed to explore the idea of establishing an exchange in London as the existing market faces greater regulation.
The World Gold Council, a group consisting of 19 gold miners, and at least five banks are participating in initial discussions, according to people familiar with the matter.
Source: gata.org
China's currency may be poised for steady appreciation ahead of historic IMF decision
April 2, 2015--Executive Summary:
China's currency is eligible for inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), a global basket of reserve currencies run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Upon inclusion, every IMF member's central bank will be required to hold China's currency in reserve
We expect demand for China's currency to spike as the IMF's decision approaches
Since the financial crisis of 2008, China has been pursuing a policy of internationalization of its currency the renminbi (RMB). One of the most important milestones for the RMB's ascent onto the world stage is its potential inclusion within the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR), a basket of reserve currencies. Upon its inclusion, every IMF member country's central bank will be required to purchase RMB to hold in reserve. We predict there will be a surge in demand for China's currency as a result. In order to potentially benefit from the inclusion, we believe U.S. investors should consider seeking RMB exposure ahead of the IMF's decision in January 2016.
Source: KraneShares
ETF Assets Head for $3 Trillion
April 2, 2015--Clear evidence that the trend toward passive products is moving faster than expected.
Only this January, PwC issued a report projecting that global ETF assets under management would double to $5 trillion by 2020....
Source: IFA Magazine
